Squatters’ Rights

We’re not talking here about the empty house down the road that’s been occupied by those with nowhere else to go; squatters’ rights have taken on an international dimension.

About 9,000 illegal immigrants who have managed to evade detection for fourteen years have been granted permanent residence and will be able to apply for a British passport. A further 22,600 immigrants have been granted indefinite leave to remain after being in the country lawfully for ten years even though they weren’t on visas that lead to settlement rights.

Apparently, there is a loophole in laws introduced by the Labour government in 2003. Should we be surprised? I don’t think so. Labour created a law a day between 1997 and 2010 and most of them were badly-drafted, ambiguous, riddled with loopholes which left them open to interpretation, and rushed through Parliament with the help of an ineffective Opposition.

John Vine, the chief inspector of the UK Border Agency, said last week that the public report immigration abuses at a rate of 300 a day but officials were not even able to tell him how many calls resulted in action or an arrest.
…
In February last year, before the new Coalition Government took power, Ann Abraham, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, said UKBA could not perform even “basic” functions and is a “very long way” from effectively removing failed asylum seekers. She said the agency risked losing public faith.

The Agency doesn’t “risk losing public faith”. I think UKBA has been an object of derision for many years now and the British public ceased to trust it long ago. And as for Ed Miliband and the rest of his Party:

In an interview last week, Ed Miliband:Denied that net migration was too high under Labour.
Denied that immigration needs to be reduced now.
Denied that Government plans to reduce net migration down to sustainable levels in the tens not hundreds of thousands a year should be supported.

Despite Cameron’s words no-one’s listening, not really. There’ll be more of this sort of thing coming to light in the future and Labour’s immigration policies will give a whole new meaning to the phrase: “Standing shoulder to shoulder”.

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."